Witnesses say car hit by train after running gates

Witnesses said a car ran into a train after going around the gates on West Ridge Road. BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE

ELYRIA TWP. – A driver walked away from an accident today after the car he was driving was hit by a train on West Ridge Road.

Elyria Township firefighters put a neck brace on the 22-year-old driver whose car was hit by a train.

A witness, Jeff Lewis, of Lorain, said he watched the locomotive clip the Honda Civic, which he said was speeding southbound through the train crossing as the train was coming down the tracks.

“The crossings were down, the horn was blaring on the train, you could hear it coming, and he just went right across,” he said. “The next thing you saw was just metal and plastic and everything ricochet.”

Lewis said, miraculously, the driver appeared to be OK.

“He was pretty dazed and confused, about the only thing he could say was he wanted to get out of the car and that he was late for work,” he said. “I informed him I think he was going to miss the day of work.”

State Highway Patrol reported troopers didn’t immediately have any information on the driver, other than that he was conscious and alert after the accident. He was taken to University Hospitals EMH Medical Center.

The vehicle was smashed into pieces next to a broken railroad gate on the side of the road. The crash halted traffic on both sides of the track, as vehicles were routed around the area.

Highway Patrol Trooper Vern Pickering said the crash is under investigation. He said more information on the crash should be released later today.